Senior Spotlight: Ryan Snaadt

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Ryan Snaadt runs his own business while completing his senior year at Simpson College. Snaadt also has a lot of hobbies. He is a photographer, videographer, marketer and fitness enthusiast. One activity he enjoys the most is making fitness videos. He has his own YouTube channel where he often publishes videos to help and educate others.

“People have been reaching out to me after watching my videos saying they were inspired and want to start working out again,” he said. “For me, that’s the biggest satisfaction I ever had with anything I’ve done.”

Snaadt is from West Point, Iowa, and says he loves being in the urban fields of Des Moines. Snaadt has a lot on his plate. He likes to stay busy and has a lot of projects going on. He just bought a drone for $4,000 and he is very excited to use it.

Snaadt loves making videos. Most people don’t realize how time-consuming that can be. He says one time he shot his friend for two hours and then spend six hours editing it. “It was an eight hours’ day for free,” he said. “I spend a lot of my free time on editing.”

“I love it. It’s meticulous, but I love the end product,” he said.

Snaadt started making videos for his friends, but now he receives requests from people wanting him to make them videos. He has made sports videos for high schools and companies. It started with creating fitness videos on YouTube and the love for filmmaking grew.

“I’m not very creative with my hands, but video allows me to be creative in my own way,” he said.

Last summer Snaadt realized he could turn this into a business. He is self-taught and claims to get better and better. “I didn’t even know this was an opportunity,” he said. He kept creating videos and marketing himself, and in a couple of months Snaadt has grown his business to the point where people are reaching out to him.

His future plan for his business is to get a part 107 license to fly his drone so he can fly commercially. He wants to use it in real estate by sending footage of the house to the potential buyers so they can see the house without visiting it. This can be very helpful for people moving to a different state.

The key to success according to Snaadt is to not burn bridges with anybody and be kind to everyone. Snaadt has worked many jobs where he was either not paid or was paid very little just to help somebody.

Snaadt said that if you have a business idea, you have to get on with it. There is a business side of it and there is a passion side of it. He said that successful student businesses meet at the intersection of passion and need.

“First, you need a passion for what you want to do. Second, you need to solve a problem,” he said.

Snaadt’s last advice is to surround yourself with positive people that want to help you. According to Snaadt, if you have a dream, you should go and chase it.